BREAST-CANCER IN WOMEN 35 YEARS OLD OR YOUNGER - CLINICAL AND MAMMOGRAPHIC FEATURES

The purpose of our work was to describe the clinic and mammographic patterns of breast cancer in women aged 35 years old or less. From 1980 to 1985, 92 women 35 years old or younger were treated in our institution for breast cancer. Their mammograms were reviewed to determine the breast density and to described the mammographic lesion. The clinic examination found a palpable breast mass (n = 84), nipple discharge (n = 2), axillary lymph node involvement (n = 3), metastasis (n = 1) or was normal (n = 2). The mammograms exhibited dense (n = 59), mixed dense/fatty (n = 29) or fatty (n = 4) parenchymal breast. The mammograms showed opacity with well-defined (n = 13) or ill-defined borders (n = 34), spiculated opacity (n = 11), architectural distortion (n = 13) or were normal (n = 18). The diagnosis of breast cancer in young women is difficult, because mammographic accuracy is less reliable and benign disease is far more prevalent.